(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic monitoring system, and more specifically, to a system for monitoring the removal and attachment of a fastener, such as a locking bar, associated with a security container or cabinet, wherein a signal which is unique for each particular cabinet is sent to a centralized monitoring station which keeps track of the fastener status of all cabinets that are being used no matter where they are located.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Containers and cabinets housing confidential, classified or even highly classified material commonly employ safety mechanisms that guard against unwanted exposure of the material being housed to adverse contingencies. A common safety mechanism is a fastener, which may be a locking bar, that is arranged with a locking device so that when the bar is attached to the cabinet the drawers being lodged in the cabinets are prevented from moving outward, thereby, making safe to unwanted exposure of the materials therein.
The locking bars serve well their intended purpose, but the actual use thereof suffers practical drawbacks. More particularly, sometimes the locking bar is removed to allow the drawers to be opened and the contents thereof revealed to an authorized person, but sometimes the authorized persons forget to reattach the locking bar to the cabinet, thereby exposing the contents of the cabinet to adverse contingencies. Further, the cabinets are sometimes placed at remote locations preventing them from being viewed during conduct of normal activities, thereby, leaving the contents of cabinets susceptible to uncontrolled viewing. Normally, monitoring these remote locations undesirably involves time-consuming tasks of individuals that sometimes suffer from human error drawbacks. It is desired that a monitoring system be provided to determine whether the safety mechanism is in place so as to secure the container or cabinet no matter where the container or cabinet is located.